Victims of International Crimes

Serious human rights abuses such as torture sometimes occur during international armed conflicts and at other times where repressive states act against their own citizens. Such abuses are often international crimes falling into a special category of criminal law permitting suspects to be prosecuted in third countries unconnected to the events.

On occasion those suspected of being responsible for these international crimes travel to England & Wales or come to live, work or study here.

We have a unique expertise in advising victims from a country in which international crimes may have been committed under the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the first additional Protocol of 1977, the UN Torture Convention or the other relevant international instruments.  We can identify any potential remedies in this country, against a complex background of international and UK law and assess the strength of the evidence in particular cases.   We will advise on placing the evidence before the specialist police unit that investigates such crimes and/or before a judge to obtain an arrest warrant against a suspect in cases of emergency (i.e. to avoid a suspect otherwise evading arrest)

We have advised and taken action on torture and war crimes allegations from several countries and obtained one well publicised arrest warrant, the first ever to be granted by a judge under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957.

We can assist clients to obtain arrests abroad where it possible to find local lawyers in countries where the law is in place to prosecute such international crimes – we have existing excellent local partners in places as diverse as Spain, Netherlands, France, Switzerland and New Zealand.